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P.O. Ray to Jessie Daniel Ames, August 20, 1924

This series of letters between Dr. P.O. Ray of Northwestern University in Illinois and Jessie Daniel Ames reveals the dilemma that many women activists experienced in 1924. Ames supported Mrs. Ferguson in the Democratic party as the best alternative to the Ku Klux Klan. By the time of the fall election, Ames was disillusioned to realize that "Ma" was only a pawn of her husband's ambition.

Ames was not without sympathy for Mrs. Ferguson's position. In an interview given in 1965, when she was 82, Ames recalled paying a visit to the governor's office, only to find Jim Ferguson sitting in the governor's chair and Mrs. Ferguson in the kitchen making strawberry jam. As Ames remembered the encounter, "We forgave her. It was strawberry season, and perhaps strawberry jam was Jim's favorite dish."